AuthorTopic: How many hours do law students usually spend studying daily? (Read 8445 times)

Instead of looking at it on a daily count, look at it as 3-4 hours of reading/studying for every 1 hour of class.

This is way above the commitment I put in, at least. For the first semester I wasn't really sure what I was looking for when reading, so my hours might have been something like this, but once I got a feeling for how to filter what is useful for exams and what is just for impressing the professor when called on, I cut down heavily.

For my second semester, I pretty much spent about 1.5 hours in the morning before class to read for that class, and I covered the rest in the 3 hours between classes I had most days.

I got through everything I needed to do at school, I never left campus later than 6PM, and I never had to bring books home. (Dreadful periods of LRW not included)

It really varies a lot from semester to semester and depends on which law student (some study a whole lot more than others) and whether you consider student org activities or independent writing projects part of studying. There are some days where I start at 6-something AM and other than a short break to eat and such keep at it till about midnight, there are other days where I do almost no work outside class. Overall though law school takes a lot of time and is a major commitment. I wouldn't plan on much of a life outside of law school:)

I agree. It's a marathon mixed with a rollercoaster. Some days I hit it hard for 10-12 hours, other days I give it a quick 1 or 2 hour review (in addition to class time). However, this stratagy doesn't work for everyone. Some, like bryan9584, take the 9-to-5 approach and it works well for them. If you take this approach, you should have no problem fitting in your training.

It really depends on the person. Some people, as mentioned, study 9-5 and call it a day. Others vary their schedule based on various factors.

Just try to do what works for you. While it is true that you probably will have to give up some of your "activities," don't forget to have fun too! Sometimes people become so immersed in their studies that they forget that exercising, for example, relieves stress and makes their studying much more beneficial.

9:00 -- wake up.9:45 -- first class, usually Contracts. Ignore almost everything my professor says. Write down the BLL. Think about what he might test on the exam.11:05 -- ignore everything my Crim prof says. Think about what motivates my prof to have such odd facial hair.12:00 -- lunch, eat lunch, maybe review a case or two for the afternoon. Buy a giant cookie to make myself feel better about the economy.1:30 - 3:50 -- classes. Public International is fun. CivPro II is boring. Think about how Personal Jurisdiction may be tested on the exam. (Reasonable? Minimum Contacts?)3:50 - 5:00 -- waste time on the internet, talk to friends in the Green Lounge, eat a peach.5:00 - 7:00 -- maybe start looking at some cases.8:00 -- get back from dinner, look at the cases again. Decide whether I want to bother reading them, or ignore the assignment and look at old practice exams instead. Print out a case brief in case I get called on.9:00 -- waste time. Deliberate whether I want to go waste the time of my friend, SplorkyFish. SplorkyFish is wasting time by watching baseball. I ask him about the Twins.10:00 -- look at old exams. Worry about not doing much better than median. Meet a giant fish, @#!* its brains out.11:00 -- waste more time on the Internet. Text my hipster friend and ask her about Mike Nichols' films.12:00 -- watch Office Space on Hulu, play my guitar.1:00 -- read Truman Capote, or some other light fiction. Think about attempt and 5.01 in terms of the early scenes in which the ex-cons buy rope at the variety store. (Could they still assert abandonment?) Fall asleep. Dream about buying a pet turtle.